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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The Earl Grey Post Game Show – TEABAGGIN’ 09 Fails to Impress

When I was a kid, I took part in Hands Across America. I remember when I first heard about it on MTV. People were going to join hands from New York to Los Angeles, making one continuous human chain across America. I knew I wanted to be part of this because it was going to be big and it was going to do something good.* I signed up and a few weeks later I got my marching orders. I was to report to Bendix Woods County Park on the West Side of South Bend, Indiana and join hands with the rest of the country. My father drove me out there and we stood on the side of the road, with about thirty other people. We didn’t even cover a block. The worst part was at a designated time, every radio station in the country was supposed to play the crappy Hands Across America song and everybody in the chain was supposed to sing. The idea was that the human chain would sing a song to the heavens and be heard from sea to shining sea. It was awful.

This brings me to today. Watching the tea bagging events and reading the recaps reminded me of that day. Yes, as opposed to my experience, the tea baggers were enjoying themselves. I’ve been to many events where I have congregated with like minded people and they are almost always a good time. But the truth is, the majority of the country is with Obama, not these people. What struck me the most is the fact that these people are not protesters by nature. Seriously, when was the last time people protested taxes? 1773?

Historically, people protest war. The people protesting today were all for war last time it came up. In fact, they were the ones belittling those of you who were out there in the streets doing what you could to stop our invasion of Iraq. If you weren’t for the war, they were the first ones to tell you that you weren’t American! So, yeah, they’re not natural protesters. That said, they’ll learn. There’s already talk of another on on July 4, and they’ll fix their mistakes. In the meantime, the stimulus will be in full gear. With luck, the economy will be in recovery mode. Hey, maybe when they get home, they’ll notice a little extra in their paycheck too, like I did.

Yes, there was the expected crazy but frankly, I’m bored. It’s just too easy, like fishing with dynamite. I’ll let Rachel Maddow recap the events of the day:

Tea baggers, I’m happy you were able to get together and have fun today. That said, the country is changing. We’re moving ahead, into the 21st century, whether you like it or not.

*I couldn’t remember what that “good” was, so I peeked at the link above. It was part of USA for Africa. Based on current events in Africa, Hands Across America didn’t work.